Flicking through television stations one afternoon–yes I know what you’re thinking, but please don’t go there– I came across the Oprah Show, and noticed a family of four facing the audience. The blond mother did not smile, the husband seemed intimidated, the 14-year-old appeared uncomfortable and the five-year-old, bored. Apparently this family had become disconnected and were getting prepped by Peter Walsh, for a week of stripping down, in order to become a reconnected family.

Peter Walsh hit a chord when he mentioned people having “too much stuff,”

Rule 1: No Cell Phones or Texting
Rule 2: No Electronics
Rule 3: Prepare and Eat Healthy Meals Together

At first they HATED it, but then surprisingly, the teenager admitted he did not miss texting, and enjoyed having meals and getting attention from his parents.

Listening to Walsh reminded me of the days when parents, (especially mothers) didn’t work and had more time and energy to prepare home-cooked meals and nurture their family. Perhaps that’s why in so many third world countries, with no stuff, families are much closer and they rely on each other and their community of friends and relatives for entertainment.

Is western society losing close family ties? What do you think?

My blogger friend Shirley with her blog 100 memoirs, is offering an interesting contest. Tell your life story in SIX WORDS.

Thanks to my blogger friend Shirley, and her fabulous blog: 100 memoirs, I was alerted to a new memoir by Hope Edelman, The Possibility of Everything.
Hope Edelman and I have three things in common:

1. We both live in southern California.
2. We both placed our hopes on Belize to resolve a problem we had with our kid(s).
3. We both want to give back to Belize as a result of a positive experience.

There are also many differences between Hope and myself: she is a bestselling author and has the title of Mommy Guru after writing: Motherless Daughters, Motherless Mothers, Mother of My Mother, Letters From Motherless Daughters and now her memoir, The Possibility of Everything.

As soon as I read the Los Angeles Times article, I had to meet her. “In 2000, when her daughter Maya was 3, Edelman became convinced that Maya was inhabited by an evil spirit. She and her husband, Uzi, took Maya to a bush doctor and then a well-known shaman in Belize to have the spirit evicted from their daughter’s body.” It worked.

Although Hope’s story is very different from mine, Belize was our common bond and we had to connect. I e-mailed her with a subject hook, “How Belize Rescued My Son,” hoping this would spark a return e-mail. Within two hours, I received a reply.

Hope offered me an invitation to attend one of her book salons, where she would be speaking. From the address on the invitation, I knew this was not an evening to be dressed in jeans. I drove up to the front gate in my blue Kia Rio, and turned the handle as fast as I could so the window appeared automatic. A male model stepped out of the well-lit guard house, and asked me for my name. While waiting for clearance, a little more thorough than last weeks’s White House one, I had a private conversation with my Kia Rio. “Don’t be shy,” I said. “I’m sure you’re not the only non-Mercedes, BMW or Lexus, here tonight.”

I pulled up to the estate and rang the doorbell. There, in front of the over-sized entrance, the hostess welcomed me into her home. Within seconds, a waitress handed me a glass of Perrier-Jouet champagne, and I felt in another world. It had only been a week since I volunteered in a Mayan Village in Belize, where no one dared use the toilet.

I knew Hope Edelman had arrived when all the women flocked to her side to greet her. A little more petite than I had expected, she sat in front of the fire-place and brought us into her world of caring about others.

After her presentation, I had a chance to speak to her and she wrote a message in my book: “For Sonia, With the hope of an ongoing communication, here and in Belize.”

Have you had a similar experience meeting an author you felt “connected” to?

If you haven’t already, please remember to enter the $15 Amazon gift certificate contest, by offering me a system to file my writing papers. Please see post HERE. Winner will be announced on Monday December 7th.

It was our last morning in Hopkins Village after a week of volunteering in the Mayan Village of Red Bank.

“Duke I just gave birth to a few worms.”

The skin popped open and I performed a mini C-section of my toe.

No more babies or worms for me, at least I hope not.

Have any of you had this experience from your travels?
Have you tried Mintezol? What was it like for you?

Where do you start when you experience a life changing event?

For several days now, I’ve mulled over the notes in my journal; the one I kept during my week volunteering at a medical mission in the Mayan village of Red Bank, in Belize, and I keep coming back to the same phrase spoken by nurse Judy Krieg, our contact in Belize.

This is Judy, always giving to others.

We call her “The Mother Theresa/Indiana Jones of Belize.” One of the first pieces of advice she gave to all eleven nurses from Orange County and myself was, “Open your heart first if you want to help.” During orientation, she described how we should approach Mayan women and their children. “Look that mother in the eye and touch her child,” she said. “She will remember you if you give her your undivided attention, and that makes all the difference in the mother and her child’s life.”

So why am I writing about Judy’s comment rather than sharing our travel adventures, beautiful accommodations at Belizean Dreams in Hopkins Village,

Xunantunich archeological site and Thatch Caye magical island resort? Because I want to focus on one aspect only, and that is what happened to change my thought process.

I realized that all mothers are the same despite our differences in skin color and level of education. A mother is a mother, even if she doesn’t know her child’s birthday. The love she feels for her child is universal. During a brief moment, my eyes locked with a Mayan mother cradling her sick five-year-old daughter. The tiny girl reminded me of a doll. Her long eyelashes looked sticky and sealed shut; her yellow dress clung to her skinny chest and limbs like a wet rag. Was it the humidity or a fever? I watched the mother pull back wet strands of dark hair glued to scabs around her daughter’s nostrils. For one brief second, the mother and I had a rare connection. I felt intense love for her and the child and then I had to turn away. I started to cry.

A four-month-old little boy. He was the chubbiest of all the kids I saw. Adorable.

I have a wonderful life, and there I was staring at a Mayan mother, who might lose a child to disease or malnutrition. My kids are getting an education and have food. This woman is doing the best she can, and I felt ashamed to be judging her as uneducated and “inferior,” to me. I realized that I was simply lucky to be born with the life I have. Why me and not her?

The island of Ambergris Caye where my family lived from 2004-2005 seemed different, or perhaps it’s my outlook that has changed. Have you experienced a complete change in how you perceive a place after coming back?

When I entered the front door of Carol’s house last Monday, I thought I’d stepped into a United Nations camp. Boxes of neosporine, band-aids, toothbrushes, toothpaste, flip-flops, socks, combs and toys were scattered in mounds all over her dining and living room floor, waiting for all twelve of us volunteers to squeeze fifty pounds into each suitcase. We need all of it for the Mayan kids we are screening in Belize.

Eleven nurses and I (not a nurse) are off to Belize on Saturday morning at 4 a.m., to help with a school medical screening in a Mayan Village. Nurse Judy Krieg has set up seven stations:

1) Check -in
2) Height and Weight
3) Vision
4) Dental
5) De-Worming
6) Vital Signs
7) Physical Assessment

There are also optional stations for de-licing, wound care, dental hygiene and pharmacy.

I have no idea which station I shall be at, but perhaps the height and weight or vision, since I’m not a nurse.

I shall keep a journal as per the suggestion of Miss Footloose. She always thinks of what could offer material for another book.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR READING MY BLOG AND I LOOK FORWARD TO SHARING PHOTOS AND MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE CHILDREN FROM THIS MAYAN VILLAGE. I RETURN ON OCTOBER 21ST.

In the meantime, I was offered a wonderful award from Patricia Stotley. author of two mystery novels and I hope you visit her fascinating blog about writing and getting published.

The Heart of a Dragon Award is a very special award for the blogger who inspires you and/or others to go above and beyond or the blogger who helps keep us all connected.

Here are the rules:

1. Post the award on your site with a link to the person who gave it to you.
2. Pass it on to the blogger(s) who inspire you and list why they are receiving the award.
3. Post a comment on their blog.

I would like to offer this award to Jeanie. She is a loyal blogger friend, I feel she is very down-to-earth and authentic. Please visit her and her post today about, “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are,” is really interesting and insightful.